Jason Sandford is founder of Ashvegas.com. Jason grew up in Asheville and is a 20-year veteran journalist.

Tina Madison

This looks like a great discussion. Press release here:

Leadership Asheville’s next Buzz Breakfast will take place on Wednesday, July 18, and provide a forum for discussing ways to promote sexual and gender diversity in area workplaces. Tina Madison White, executive director of Blue Ridge Pride Center, and Laura Webb, president of Webb Investment Services, will be the presenters.

The breakfast is open to the public and provides a chance to network with alumni of Leadership Asheville and other community leaders. This event takes place at the Crowne Plaza Resort Expo Center at 1 Resort Dr., Asheville. Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m., the program begins at 8, and the cost is $20.

White, a former banker and management consultant, is a transgender woman who wrote about her transition from male to female in the book, Between Shadow and Sun: A Husband’s Journey Through Gender – A Wife’s Labor of Love.

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Webb has led Webb Investment Services, an independent wealth management practice, for more than 20 years, and is former chair of Webb Insurance. Early in her career, she was the first female regional vice president for Eagle Asset Management.

The Buzz Breakfast series, presented each summer by Leadership Asheville, highlights important issues, new initiatives and new leaders making an impact on the region. The final breakfast in the series will take place on Aug. 22, with discussion of racial equity led by Kimberlee Archie, City of Asheville equity and inclusion manager, and Darin Waters, UNC Asheville professor of history and special assistant to the chancellor for community engagement.

Leadership Asheville, a project of UNC Asheville, engages participants in collaborative community leadership projects, providing personal leadership development and community education and orientation. Many of Asheville’s civic and business leaders are Leadership Asheville alumni. Leadership Asheville’s 37th annual program will begin in September and celebrate its new graduates in May.

Presenting sponsors for the Leadership Asheville Buzz Breakfast series are Ward and Smith, P.A. Attorneys at Law, and Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP.

For Buzz Breakfast tickets and more information about Leadership Asheville, visit leadershipasheville.unca.edu.